Venable, Wahconah Offense Storm Amherst

DALTON, Mass. – Gio Venable threw for two touchdowns, returned an interception for a TD and a kickoff for another score and caught a two-point conversion pass Friday as the Wahconah football team won its fourth straight, beating Amherst, 50-0, in dominating fashion.

 

Wahconah exploded for 30 points in the second quarter and easily could have added another touchdown had it not chosen to run out the clock at the Amherst 8 with more than 30 seconds on the clock.

 

Venable had a hand in four of his team’s seven TDs, and Wahconah’s first-string offense was stopped only by the second quarter clock as it improved to 5-1 and dropped the Hurricanes to 4-2.

 

After leading a Wahconah team that has averaged 46 points per game in its last four outings, Venable agreed that his team is loaded offensively.

 

“When our offense steps on the field, I couldn’t feel more confident,” Venable said. “Our offense is our game. Without our offense, I don’t know where we’d be at right now.

 

“It feels good to have some weapons and some X-factors on our team, for sure.”

 

And it feels good for Wahconah coach Gary Campbell Jr. to send an X-factor at QB onto the field each Friday night.

 

“He’s an extremely good athlete,” Campbell said. “He just does a lot of great things. Last year, he had a great kick return.

 

“And this year, he got an opportunity. They haven’t kicked to him a ton. And then, jeez, I don’t think he was touched there, so that was great. He had a great game throwing, he had a great game running and a great game on defense.

 

“He’s an excellent football player.”

 

After Wahconah’s defense got off the field in fewer than three minutes to start the game, its offense went to work on its 30.

 

Anthony Talora carried the ball three times for 15 yards to help the team get over midfield, and, on first-and-10 from the plus-40, Venable dropped back and found a wide open Trevion Hawkins, who sprinted to the end zone.

 

Micah Roberts then took over at QB for the extra point and hit Venable in the end zone to make it 8-0 midway through the quarter.

 

After another 3-and-out for the Amherst offense, Wahconah got the ball on the Canes’ 32 and needed five plays to score on Talora’s 15-yard TD run on the last play of the period.

 

Again, Wahconah’s defense stuffed Amherst to start the second quarter, and a bad snap forced the Hurricanes’ punter to go down to his knee with the ball at the 1-yard line. One play later, Roberts was in the end zone, and, after Venable’s PAT toss to Hawkins, Wahconah had a 22-0 lead.

 

Amherst then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Wahconah cashed in on the short field with another one-play drive. This time Venable hit Anthony Englyshe for a 28-yard pass and a 30-0 lead after Venable’s two-point throw to Rick Rando.

 

Wahconah’s longest scoring drive of the game consumed 4 minutes, 20 seconds and went 65 yards to end in a 2-yard Jerry Beaubrun run with 3:21 left on the clock. Another successful PAT throw by Venable made it 38-0.

 

Finally, Amherst got something going on offense, making two first downs – one on a penalty – and getting to the Wahconah 37.

 

But on the next play, Venable intercepted a pass at the 10 and raced to the house to make it 44-0.

 

Another three-and-out for Amherst led to another punt in its end. This time, the punter slipped and Wahconah made the tackle at the plus-16 with 44 seconds on the clock. After Talora ran for 8 yards on first down, Campbell opted to let the clock run out and go to the locker room, knowing the second half would be played under running time.

 

Venable got the third quarter off to a running start with an 84-yard return of the opening kickoff for the game’s final score.

 

And Wahconah’s defense made sure that was the final score as Colin Connor picked off a pass at his team’s 4-yard-line on Amherst’s first possession of the half, and Wahconah’s reserves forced an Amherst fumble in the red zone on the Hurricanes’ final possession of the game.

 

“How about Colin Connor making a nice pick over there, nice job there,” Campbell said. “And the young guys making a stand there, picking up a fumble. Great job by those guys.”

 

It marked the first shutout of the year for a Wahconah defense that is now averaging 10.3 points per game allowed.

 

Next week, Wahconah continues play in the Suburban South when it travels to Duggan High School to play Putnam Vocational on Thursday night.